This episode looks at some Council Bluffs mysteries that have lingered through the years, yet remain unexplained. Included are the 1977 UFO Crash at Big Lake Park, the gruesome 1926 Keeline murders at the site of today's St. Paul's Lutheran Church, the 1970 Cadillac S&S Medic Mark 1 ambulance in which 495 people died, the librarians' perpetual sitings of Julia Officer at the Carnegie Building and the unsupported staircase, and the legends surrounding the Ruth Anne Dodge Memorial, better known locally as the Black Angel.

For a comprehensive review of the Ruth Anne Dodge Memorial, from its planning and construction to the scandal that led to the aborted dedication ceremony we recommend the podcast "The Black Angel's Secret" https://accidentally-historic.simplecast.com/episodes/the-black-angels-secret

Questions, comments and suggestions for podcast guests or topics are always welcome! You can contact us at information@TheHistoricalSociety.org. The Society also has a YouTube channel you may enjoy: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2BijwKxeirRtL7QLnyfMzg

Seasonal haunted houses appeared on the local scene about fifty years ago, initially fund raisers for a variety of groups and causes. Youth For Christ, Campus Life, March of Dimes, the Jaycees, and the Historical Society were early participants. From church basements and abandoned buildings to semi truck trailers in parking lots, haunted houses proliferated by the 1980s. Generally staffed by youthful volunteers intent on making their particular character and their venue as scary as possible, the endeavor brought together imagination, creativity and theatrics to become something of an art form in its own right.

Safety standards imposed following a 1980s tragedy in New Jersey escalated costs, forcing some small players out of the business, to be replaced by commercial operators. The better financial position of the latter allowed for investment in more elaborate displays and equipment. This, coupled with technology developments of the past decade, have made the modern haunted houses in many ways quite different from their predecessors, but some tried-and-true techniques can always be counted on for a scare.

Haunted House historians Doug Kabourek and Brian Corey reminisce about Council Bluffs and Omaha’s early haunted houses, describe what makes a haunted house work, and discuss the allure they have had for young people and why that age demographic is expanding.

Doug Kabourek also maintains a website the chronicles the haunted houses of Council Bluffs and Omaha at www.WickedPlaza.com

Brian Corey hosts a horror movie, paranormal, and spooky podcast call Necronomicast at www.necronomicast.com

This installment finds Unit K/Mobile One being stationed ever closer to the perilous European front, with its attendant danger and devastation. For example, during this episode, in two different postings, Mobile One narrowly avoided being shelled. In a third, the hospital was situated so close to a gas-shell dump that an attack would have required personnel to don their gas masks in just seconds to escape serious harm. Along the way, this innovative group devised methods for performing operations safely during the approaching colder weather; and for doing surgeries at night, while still maintaining the cover of darkness. They also reconfigured a set of train cars to function essentially as a rolling hospital, capable of rapidly transporting large numbers of recovering soldiers further from the front. And on November 12, 1918, as Mobile One began arriving at the final French station covered in this installment, its personnel learned that the WWI armistice had become effective the day before.